Argentina's informal peso down 2.05% with widening country risk; Evergrande managed to avoid default on a dollar bond at the last minute

Argentina’s informal peso rate weakened 2.05% to 195 per dollar on Friday. The country risk has widened 19 basis points to an all-time high of 1,672 as inflation soars ahead of November’s congressional elections. The country’s risk spread, prepared by JP Morgan, exceeded its previous ceiling of 1,669 basis points. Consumer prices spiked to a higher-than-expected 3.5% in September, while inflation in the first nine months of 2021 reached 37%.

In China, Evergrande just avoided a last-minute default on a dollar bond last Friday. The money raised effectively prevented a formal default which would likely trigger greater impact. It wasn’t clear how the money was raised and there is still no sign of a comprehensive restructuring of its $300 billion in liabilities. The DXY Index dropped last Friday on Powell’s comment to start bond tapering. But it has since then regained some losses back, currently trading at 93.635, up slightly by 0.05%.